Lichens of Olompali State Historic Park

Cladonia (cup lichen) is a genus of moss-like lichens in the family Cladoniaceae. They are the primary food source for reindeer and caribou. Cladonia species are of economic importance to reindeer-herders, such as the Sami in Scandinavia or the Nenets in Russia. Antibiotic compounds are extracted from some species to create antibiotic cream. The light green species Cladonia stellaris is used in flower decorations. less ↑

 Thallus: crustose, leprose, unstratified or, in thick specimens, sometimes indistinctly stratified, indeterminate, thin, irregularly spreading, sometimes forming scattered granules, but usually ±continuous; surface: bright yellow throughout, often with an orange or greenish tinge, composed of a mass of fine soredia, 12-30(-40) µm in diam.; medulla: usually not evident, in thick thalli sometimes indistinctly present, yellow; Ascomata: rare (in the Sonoran region, known from one specimen from Mexico), up to 0.5 mm in diam., ±superficial; disc: pale orange, often yellow-pruinose; margin: thin, ecorticate, soon becoming excluded; exciple: poorly developed, composed of anastomosing hyphae; epihymenium: hyaline, up to 18 µm tall, composed of of a reticulate layer of richly branched paraphysoids; hymenium: hyaline, up to 50 µm tall (including epihymenium); paraphysoides: 1-1.5 µm wide, richly intertwined in epihymenium; hypothecium: colorless, poorly developed; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: 9-14 x 3 µm; Spot tests: K- or K+ orange, sometimes darkening to red-black, C-, KC-, P- or P+ orange; UV+ dull orange or UV-; Secondary metabolites: calycin and/or pinastric acid.; Substrate and ecology: on bark, wood, stone (mainly rhyolite) in dry and shaded microhabitats; World distribution: cosmopolitan except for arctic-alpine and antarctic areas; Sonoran distribution: coastal California, Arizona, Baja California Sur, Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora at 1-2550 m.; Note: Psilolechia lucida (Ach.) M. Choisy, another unstratified, totally leprose species, is distinct, e.g., by the production of rhizocarpic acid; reports of the species from the Sonoran region have not been substantiated.  less ↑

 Thallus: crustose, stratified, determinate to indeterminate, thick, composed of rounded, convex, sometimes slightly placodioid cushions, 0.5-2 cm in diam. which may become confluent in part; surface: lemon yellow, composed of a mass of fine soredia, (19-)25-42(-63) µm in diam.; medulla: distinct, yellow in upper part, almost white in lower part; Apothecia: not known in Sonoran material, elsewhere with a constricted base, 0.2-1 mm in diam.; disc: brownish orange, flat to convex, yellowish pruinose; exciple: poorly developed, composed of anastomosing hyphae; epihymenium: yellow, composed of a reticulate layer of richly branched paraphysoids; hymenium: colorless or pale yellow, 60-70 µm tall; paraphysoids: c. 1 µm wide, intertwined, branched; hypothecium: hyaline, fusing into the medulla, hard and opaque; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: hyaline, 3-septate, obovate, straight, 11-15 x 3 µm; Spot tests: K+ orange, C-, KC-, P+ orange; UV+ dull dark orange; Secondary metabolites: calycin and diffractaic acid.; Substrate and ecology: mainly on bark, also wood and rock in shaded and dry microhabitats, possibly also in places subjected to direct sun and rain; World distribution: western South America (Chile to Peru) and western North America; Sonoran distribution: strictly coastal (often on islands) from northwestern Mexico (Baja California) to southern California (Santa Barbara Co.), sea-level to 400 m.; Note: Chrysothrix granulosa is here reported as new to North America. It is apparently a common species along the Pacific coast from Mexico to as far north as British Columbia.  less ↑

 Thallus: peltate, scattered individually, sometimes lobed (rarely polyphyllous), up to 12 mm in diam.; margins: downrolled, not undulate; upper surface: tan-olive-green to dark olive-brown, dull to shiny; soredia: farinose, black, marginal (rarely laminal), in elongated soralia; upper cortex: lacking but with a yellow to brownish epinecral layer (5-10 µm thick); medulla: composed of loosely interwoven hyphae (cells: elongated, 1.5-3 µm thick); algal layer: clearly delimited, 70-150 µm thick; lower cortex: 18-90 µm thick, proso- to paraplectenchymatous, hyphae often anticlinally arranged; cells: globose to elongated, 3-8 µm thick; lower surface: paler than the upper surface, attached by an umbilicus; Apothecia: rare, many per squamule, immersed; disc: punctiform to widely expanded, 0.1-0.9 mm diam.; epihymenium: yellowish brown or pinkish, K-; hymenium: I+ wine-red, 105-220 µm high; asci: clavate to obclavate; wall: I+ slightly blue and more strongly blue after pretreatment with K, 32-100-spored; ascospores: ellipsoid to bacilliform, 6-9 x 3-4.8 µm; Pycnidia: immersed, chambered, up to 150 µm diam.; conidia: fusiform, 3-3.5 x 1-1.5 µm; Spot tests: all negative; Secondary metabolites: none detected.; Substrate and ecology: on acidic rocks in deserts and other open, arid habitats; World distribution: throughout arid and semi-arid regions on all continents and extending into temperate regions of North America, Eurasia and Australasia; Sonoran distribution: desert to mountain areas of Arizona, southern California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua Baja California and Baja California Sur.  less ↑

 Thallus: continuous to fissured, with thin to moderately thick verrucae; margin: definite, often zonate; upper surface: whitish gray to greenish gray, margins entire to weakly zoned, epruinose; soredia: farinose, restricted to verrucae or coalescing and spreading onto ruptured thallus surface; Apothecia: no fertile specimens seen; Pycnidia: not seen; Spot tests: K- or K+ yellow to red, C-, KC+ rose-violet, P- or + yellow to red, UV-; Secondary metabolites: picrolichenic and ± protocetraric acids (both major); ± conprotocetraric and subpicrolichenic acid (both minor).; Substrate and ecology: on deciduous trees, such as Aesculus, Quercus or conifers, and also occasionally on siliceous rocks in shady places; World distribution: widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; Sonoran distribution: in coastal areas of southern California and Baja California and scattered in inland mountains up to 1800 m in Arizona and Chihuahua.; Notes: Pertusaria amara is characterized by small, but coalescing soralia with farinose soredia, a relatively thin, grayish thallus and the presence of the picrolichenic acid chemosyndrome and thus a bitter taste. It is hardly confused with any other Pertusaria species occurring in western North America, except P. albescens. The distinction of both species is discussed above.  less ↑

 Thallus: fruticose, shrubby to subpendulous, up to 7(15) cm long; branching: irregularly or dichotomously branched from a narrow holdfast; branches: solid, lanceolate, plane or +canaliculate, up to 3(-5) mm wide; surface: greenish gray to greenish yellow, irregularly uneven, shiny, without soredia; pseudocyphellae: linear or ellipsoid, laminal or rarely marginal, flat to +depressed; cortex: thin; chondroid strands: continuous, smooth, never forming bundles of hyphae; Apothecia: common, submarginal, up to 1-3 mm in diam.; disc: concave, with or without white pruina, without white margin; margin: entire; concolorous with the thallus, reticulately rugose, usually with dense pseudocyphellae; asci: elongate-clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: hyaline, 1-septate, broadly fusiform, slightly curved, 12-16 x 4.5-5 µm; Pycnidia: not observed; Spot tests: cortex K-, C-, KC+ yellow, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolites: cortex with usnic acid (major); medulla with zeorin (±trace).; Substrate and ecology: on bark; World and Sonoran distribution: southern California, Baja California and Baja California Sur.; Notes: Although Rundel and Bowler (1976) reported the absence of zeorin for R. leptocarpha, zeorin containing specimens were found in Mexico. Ramalina leptocarpha might be confused with R. celastri that differs in having flat laciniae, a convex apothecial disc without pruina, lacking pseudocyphellae on the margins and never producing zeorin. In addition, blades of R. leptocarpha produce apothecia on both sides, but they are usually characteristically found on upper side of blades in R. celastri. Ramalina leptocarpha resembles R. calicaris (L.) Fr., a European species, that differs in having +protruded pseudocyphellae and produces homosekikaic and sekikaic acid. Howe (1914) reported the occurrence of Ramalina fraxinea var. ampliata Ach., R. menziesii Tuck. and R. linearis (Sw.) Ach. from the Sonoran area. However, most specimens (in US) examined and annotated by him as these three species were found to be R. leptocarpha. The distribution of R. leptocarpha was plotted by Rundel and Bowler (1976).  less ↑

 Thallus: fruticose, pendulous, 20-50(-200) cm long; branching: subparallel, irregular or dichotomously branched growing from a narrow holdfast or unattached; branches: solid, flattened, reticulate net-like fenestration common on side and distal branches, up to 3(-10) mm wide; surface: yellowish green, smooth or conspicuous striated by pseudocyphellae, shiny, sorediate; pseudocyphellae: common, narrowly linear, laminal or rarely marginal; cortex: thin; chondroid strands: discontinuous, smooth; Apothecia: frequent, stipitate; disc: flat to +concave, without a white margin; margin: pseudocyphellate, concolorous with the thallus; asci: elongate-clavate, 8spored; ascospores: hyaline, 1-septate, broadly fusiform, 12-15 x 4.5-5.6 µm; Pycnidia: not observed; Spot tests: cortex K-, C-, KC+ yellow, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolites: cortex with usnic acid (minor); medulla: none detected.; Substrate and ecology: on bark; World distribution: western North America from central Baja California to southern Alaska; Sonoran distribution: southern California, Baja California and Baja California Sur.; Notes: Ramalina menziesii is unique in having pendulous branches with net-like perforations, lacking soralia, and in producing no chemical metabolites. The distinction with R. usnea is given under that species.  less ↑

 Thallus: fruticose, shrubby to subpendulous, up to 7(15) cm long; branching: irregularly or dichotomously branched from a narrow holdfast; branches: solid, flattened, minutely hairy, up to 3(-5) mm wide; surface: greenish gray to greenish yellow, irregularly uneven, dull, without soredia; pseudocyphellae: rare, ellipsoid, laminal or rarely marginal, flat to +depressed; cortex: thin; chondroid strands: continuous, smooth; Apothecia: common, submarginal, up to 3(-7) mm in diam.; disc: concave, with white pruina, without white margin; margin: concolorous with the thallus, reticulately rugose, with sparse pseudocyphellae; asci: elongate-clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: hyaline, 1-septate, broadly fusiform, slightly curved, 1316(- 19) x 4.5-5.6 µm; Pycnidia: not observed; Spot tests: cortex K-, C-, KC+ yellow, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolites: cortex with usnic acid (major); medulla: none detected.; Substrate and ecology: on bark; World and Sonoran distribution: infrquent in coastal, southern California.; Note: Ramalina puberulenta resembles R. leptocarpha, from which it can be distinguished by the presence of cortical hairs on the branch surfaces.  less ↑

 Thallus: fruticose, shrubby or subpendulous, up to 7(15) cm long; branching: sparingly and dichotomously branched from a narrow holdfast; branches: solid, plane or +canaliculate, up to 3(-5) mm wide; surface: greenish gray to greenish yellow, lacunose, shiny, sorediate; soralia: marginal, rarely laminal, marginal soralia erupting in cracks between upper and lower cortices; pseudocyphellae: laminal or rarely marginal, ellipsoid or short linear near the base of laciniae, flat to +depressed; cortex: thin; chondroid strands: continuous, smooth, never forming bundles of hyphae; Apothecia: not seen; Pycnidia: not observed; Spot tests: cortex K-, C-, KC+ yellow, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolites: cortex with usnic acid (minor); medulla with zeorin (±trace).; Substrate and ecology: on bark; World and Sonoran distribution: southern California, Baja California, and Baja California Sur.; Notes: Ramalina subleptocarpha is a sorediate counterpart of R. leptocarpha. It might be confused with R. farinacea that differs in having flat laciniae, +cracked chondroid strands and in producing depsidones such as protocetraric or norstictic acids.  less ↑

 Thallus: adnate to loosely adnate, foliose, 5-20 cm in diam., sometimes forming extensive patches, irregularly lobate; lobes: subirregular, elongate, plane to subconvex, separate, 5-13 mm wide, contiguous to somewhat imbricate; apices rotund, crenate, eciliate; upper surface: yellow green to pale yellow, occasionally green-gray (in shade), smooth but becoming rugose and folded with age, dull to somewhat shiny; epruinose and emaculate; soredia: laminal, granular to wart-like, initially in circular soralia but becoming diffuse and confluent; isidia: absent; medulla: white with continuous algal layer; lower surface: black centrally, brown and naked peripherally; rhizines: dense to sparse centrally to edge of brown zone, black, simple, sometime brown or white tipped; Apothecia: rare, up to 8 mm wide, laminal, sessile; disc: brown; margin: smooth but sorediate sometimes; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: simple, ellipsoid, hyaline, 15-24 x 8-13 µm; Pycnidia: laminal, immersed; conidia: weakly bifusiform, 6 x 1 µm; Spot tests: upper cortex K-, C-, KC+ yellow, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P+ red; Secondary metabolites: upper cortex with usnic acid (major) and atranorin (trace); medulla with protocetraric acid (major) and caperatic acid (minor).; Substrate and ecology: on broad leafed trees, shrubs and fence posts in open habitats, coastal to montane up to 2000m, rarely on rocks; World distribution: North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa; Sonoran distribution: common on oaks, particularly in coastal California and Baja California, occasionally in central Arizona southwards into the Sierra Madre Occidental of Sonora and Chihuahua.  less ↑

 Thallus: (sub-)fruticose, erect and tufted to drooping and subpendent, (1-) 2-3 (-5) cm tall or in non-Sonroan regions occasionally pendent to 7-10 cm long, usually somewhat flaccid and pliant, occasionally very small, with very short, rosette-like aggregated branches occasionally with very short; axils: acute and V-shaped to almost right-angled (but rounded); branches: few to numerous, flattened, strap-shaped to very narrow and linear usually dorsiventral, mostly (0.5-) 1-1.5 (-3) mm wide, often ± broadened at major axils in the lower parts, to c. 5 mm wide there elongated, ± palmately branched to rather regularly dichotomous (dichotomies annual), often twisted, ultimate branches usually 1-2 (-3) mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, blunt or pointed, often forked; upper surface: green-gray to pale greenish yellow or pale yellowish green (slowly turning grayish yellow or finally brownish yellow in herbarium), or occasionally distinctly yellow, with age (or when damaged) bleaching to ash-gray to finally almost white but near the base itself often brownish yellow, extreme tips often darkened (brown); matt, sometimes (especially on smaller branches) with weak to strong mottling by paler, irregularly elongated and branched maculae, smooth to rather strongly rugose and pitted, often with an incomplete network of elongate ridges centrally spreading towards the margins; cortex degenerating and weakly cracked in places; soredia: finely to coarsely granular marginally, often on ridges and/or margins, or occasionally spreading and confluent usually white (often slightly bluish or blackish-speckled and distinctly contrasting with rest of the surface, but sometimes concolorous with it); medulla: uniformly loose, without hyphal bundles; photobiont: mainly confined to a layer just below the greenish side, in small groups, with at most a few clusters of algae near the underside; lower surface: concolorous with upper side or more often paler or white (becoming creamy to slightly orange-yellow in herbarium), often dotted or blotched greenish especially towards the tips (more visible without lens than with it), broadly channeled, often with rims formed by the curved-down edge of the upper side (and then often sorediate), but mostly less wrinkled/ridged and pitted than then the upper surface; Apothecia: very rare (not seen in material from the Sonoran Region) marginal, substipitate, bowl-shaped then plane, 0.2-0.5 (-1.5) cm diam.; disc: red-brown, thalline margin: slightly crenate, underside concolorous with thallus, pitted and wrinkled; hymenium: hyaline, upper part reddish or brownish; paraphyses: conglutinate, filamentous, unbranched, 1 µm thick, tips broadened, yellowish or reddish; hypothecium: pale reddish to brownish, to almost hyaline; ascospores: ellipsoid, 7-11 x 4-6 µm; Pycnidia: very rare, c. 0.3 mm diam., marginal, immersed, roundish, ostioles dark or black; conidia: formed pleurogenously, acicular, straight, 6-7 x 0.5 µm; Spot tests: cortex K- (rarely K+ yellow), C-, KC+ yellow (rarely KC-), P-, UV-; medulla P-, K- or + yellow, KC-, C-, UV- or + pale blue; Secondary metabolites: cortex with usnic acid (usually major, sometimes ± absent), atranorin, and chloroatranorin, medulla with evernic acid.; Substrate and ecology: usually on neutral to acidic bark (stems, branches and twigs), especially of oaks and other broadleaf trees or shrubs (only occasionally on conifers), usually at lower elevations (but up to 1675 m) in areas with high humidity but mainly in sunny, often windswept; World distribution: incompletely circumpolar: western North America, Europe; northern Africa and Japan; Sonoran distribution: southern California, oak woodland and chaparral, now largely extinct south of Santa Barbara, 60-1400 m, on Quercus or occasionally Baccharis, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Pinus nemorata; occasional in Baja California.; Notes: The upper cortex is usually yellowish or greenish, with usnic acid, but rarely (e.g, the Channel Islands) it can be partly or entirely dirty ash-gray or bluish. See Keissler (1960) for formal description of forms and varieties. Forms with narrow lobes (often in more shaded habitats) and green specimens may be confused with Ramalina species (especially R. farinacea, with which it is often intermixed), but can distinguished by its more limp thallus and often dichtomous branching. A somewhat unusual morph found occasionally in the Sonoran region has numerous, narrow, elongate, and densely sorediate branches arising mostly near the tips of broad, scarcely branched and mostly non-sorediate lower branches. The relatively few specimens found today in mainland areas around the Los Angeles area are often rather small, poorly developed and distorted.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, adnate, 4-20 cm in diam., irregularly lobate; lobes: subirregular, elongate, plane to subconvex, separate and contiguous, 0.8-3 mm wide, not lobulate; apices: subrotund, smooth to crenate, eciliate; upper surface: yellow to yellow-green, smooth but becoming strongly rugose with age, dull to slightly shiny, epruinose and emaculate, without soralia, isidia, or pustulae; medulla: white, with continuous algal layer; lower surface: pale to medium brown, plane, moderately rhizinate; rhizines: brown, simple, 0.2-0.4 mm long; Apothecia: common, substipitate, 2-5 mm wide, laminal on thallus; disc: cinnamon-brown to dark brown; margin: smooth, pruina absent; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: hyaline, simple, ellipsoid, 9-12 x 6-7 µm; Pycnidia: common, immersed; conidia: bifusiform, 6-7 x 1 µm; Spot tests: upper cortex K-, C-, KC-, P-; medulla K+ yellow becoming dark red, C-, KC-, P+ red; Secondary metabolites: upper cortex with usnic acid (major); medulla with salazinic acid (major) and consalazinic acid (minor) and often with norstictic and protocetraric acids (both trace).; Substrate and ecology: on acidic rocks, often in open or partially shaded habitats; World distribution: Australasia, southern Africa and North and South America; Sonoran distribution: very common at intermediate to lower elevations throughout the region.; Notes: Xanthoparmelia lineola is one of the most common Xanthoparmeliae in the Sonoran region, extending from the deserts (north-facing slopes) to intermediate elevations in the mountains as well as coastal habitats where it can occasionally be found growing over consolidated soil. In arid habitats where wind blown dust becomes impregnated in tree bases, X. lineola may also be found. Although interpreted as a somewhat narrow-lobed species in Australasia (Elix et al. 1986), it is often quite robust in the Sonoran region.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, adnate to loosely adnate, 4-10 cm in diam., irregularly lobate; lobes: subirregular, elongate, plane to subconvex, separate, contiguous to somewhat imbricate, (0.5-)1-2 mm wide, not lobulate; apices: subrotund, smooth to crenate, eciliate; upper surface: yellow-green, smooth, shiny, epruinose and emaculate, moderately to densely isidiate; isidia: abundant, initially globose, soon becoming cylindrical to irregularly branched, 0.08-0.15 mm in diam., 0.1-0.5 mm tall; tips: syncorticate, dull brown, sometimes weakly erumpent; soralia and pustulae absent; medulla: white, with continuous algal layer; lower surface: pale to dark brown, plane, moderately to densely rhizinate; rhizines: pale brown, simple to furcate, 0.2-0.6 mm long; Apothecia: rare, substipitate, 2-7 mm wide, laminal on thallus; disc: cinnamon-brown to dark brown; margin: smooth, pruina absent; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: hyaline, simple, ellipsoid, 9-10 x 4-5 µm; Pycnidia: rare, immersed; conidia: bifusiform, 5-6 x 1 µm; Spot tests: upper cortex K-, C-, KC-, P-; medulla K+ yellow to orange, C-, KC-, P+ orange; Secondary metabolites: upper cortex with usnic acid (major); medulla with stictic acid (major) constictic, cryptostictic and norstictic acids (all minor), and peristictic and connorstictic acids (both trace).; Substrate and ecology: on acidic rocks, often in open, arid habitats; World distribution: North and South America and southern Africa; Sonoran distribution: occasionally at lower elevations in Arizona, southern California, Baja California and Sonora.; Note: Heretofore X. plittii was the only isidiate species with a brown lower cortex and stictic acid as the major medullary metabolite recognized as occurring in the Southwest (Nash 1974b). A re-examination of the specimens and new collections established that both globose isidiate and cylindrical isidiate populations are present. The desert populations are much more narrow lobed, typically have globose isidia, which may become erumpent and are better placed in X. subplittii. At intermediate elevations in forested habitats X. plittii is more common. Both species range southwards into South America where a third species, X. succedans, is also found, but that species typically has minor amounts of peristictic acid that is not found in X. plittii or X. subplittii. See Nash et al. (1995) for a more extensive discussion of the three species.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, up to 2 cm in diam., mostly irregular with confluent thalli; lobes: up to 2 mm broad, usually around 1 mm, about the same in length but sometimes much longer, ciliate; cilia: marginal, pale to black, always black in the outer part; upper surface: gray to dark gray; lobe tips mostly much darker, sometimes with a white pruina, sorediate; soredia: in helmet-shaped soralia, usually abundant, starting as holes just beneth the lobe tips; upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous; medulla: white; lower cortex: prosoplechymatous; lower surface: white to grayish; rhizines: white to black; Apothecia: not seen in Sonoran material; elsewhere up to 2 mm diam., stipItate; disc: sometimes thinly pruinose; ascospores: brown, 1-septate, Physcia-type, 10-23 x 7-10 µm; Pycnidia: sparse, immersed; conidia: subcylindrical, 4-6 x 1 µm; Spot tests: upper cortex K+ yellow, C-, KC-, P+ yellow; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolite: atranorin in upper cortex.; Substrate and ecology: growing on trees and branches in fairly open situations, probably introduced by man; World distribution: widely distributed in temperate and boreal areas in all continents but more common at higher latitude up to 65ºN and 60ºS; Sonoran distribution: relatively frequent in upper montane forests of Arizona and coastal southern California and Baja California.; Notes: The species is easy to recognize by the cilia on the lobe margin and the helmet shaped soralia. In the Sonoran Region P. adscendens might be difficult to separate from some phenotypes of Heterodermia erinacea, and it is then necessary to study the upper cortex, which is prosoplectenchymatous in the latter. Physcia adscendens differs from P. tenellula in several aspects. The latter is much smaller and has a different type of soralia and hairs on the upper surface.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, orbicular to irregular, up to 3 cm diam.; lobes: up to 1 mm wide, sometimes scale-like; margin: mostly crenulate when soralia not present, eciliate; upper surface: whitish gray to dark gray or cream-colored (with darker margins), shiny and epruinose or rarely weakly pruinose, sorediate; soredia: in marginal or terminal soralia that develop from the lower surface of the lobe tips, eroding the tip and sometimes also the lower surface; upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous with rounded cells; medulla: white; lower cortex: paraplectenchymatous with rounded cells; lower surface: white to brownish gray, often weakly rose colored; Apothecia: uncommon, up to 2 mm diam.; margins: partly sorediate; disc: dark brown to black, without pruina; ascospores: brown, 1-septate, intermediate between Physcia- and Pachysporaria-types, (16-) 17.5-21.5 (-22.5) x (7.5-) 8.5-10.5 (-12) µm; Pycnidia: usually numerous; conidia: subcylindrical, 4-6 x 1 µm; Spot tests: cortex K+ yellow, C-, KC-, P+ yellow; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolite: upper cortex with atranorin.; Substrate and ecology: growing mainly on rocks, often manured by birds in open situations; World distribution: widely distributed but not common in northern and southern temperate regions; Sonoran distribution: one of the most common Physcias from the northern part of the Sonoran region and in scattered localities farther south, from coastal to upper montane habitats in Arizona, southern California, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua and Sonora.; Notes: In its typical appearance P. tribacia is easily identified by its narrow lobes, shiny upper surface and paraplectenchymatous lower cortex. However, very small individuals might be difficult to distinguish from P. subtilis. In such cases the type of lower cortex separates them. Physcia halei is the fertile counterpart and, except for the lack of soralia, differs by having longer lobes. Material from North America determined as P. callosa in the sense of Thomson (1963) is included here.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, up to 7 cm in diam., irregular to more often orbicular; lobes: linear to somewhat irregular-rounded and partly imbricate, 1-2 (-3) mm broad, ± flat to weakly concave, prostrate; upper surface: gray to brown, with a partial (lobe ends) or often almost complete pruina, sorediate; soredia: in marginal soralia which are elongate and ± continuous in older parts, laminal soralia sometimes developing in older regions; individual soredia granular to pseudocorticate and isidioid or at times becoming coralloid-stacked and resembling true isidia, pale but darkening with age; upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous; medulla: white; lower cortex: irregularly prosoplectenchymatous; lower surface: peripheral lobes pale tan to almost white (sometimes up to 5 mm from tip), inwards becoming dark brown or usually black; rhizines: blackening, squarrosely branched; Apothecia: infrequent but not rare, up to 2 mm in diam., the margin thick and entire, becoming sorediate or isidioid but not usually lobulate; ascospores: 28-38 x 15.5-18 µm; Spot tests: all negative; Secondary metabolites: none detected.; Substrate and ecology: bark or wood, less often on rock; World distribution: western North America; Sonoran distribution: southern California and Baja California.; Notes: In some of its forms, this species is most similar to P. detersa, which in western North America appears to be restricted to the southern Rocky Mountains, usually on mosses over rock. That species can also be distinguished from P. isidiigera by its scleroplectenchymatous upper cortex. Specimens of P. enteroxantha with very low concentrations of secalonic acid A in the medulla and/or soralia are likely to be identified as this species if the medullary spot tests are not very carefully carried out and interpreted.  less ↑

 Thallus: small foliose, up to 1 cm wide or coalescing to form extensive colonies, adnate to ascending to erect, often with a shrubby appearance; lobes: dorsiventral but often convex and twisted, imbricate, narrow 0.1 -0.6 mm wide; upper surface: lemon yellow to orange yellow, in shade paling to yellow green, smooth to somewhat coarse; soredia: granular, blastidious, marginal or from the lobe tips and from the lower side of the lobes; upper cortex: c. 10-45 µm thick (may reach through the whole thallus); medulla: white, very thin; lower cortex: lacking or partly lacking, c. 5-20 µm thick; lower surface: arachnoid at least in parts, white or more often greenish when algal layer is exposed, sparsely rhizinate; rhizines: short, white and simple; Apothecia: fairly common, laminal, sessile, up to c. 1 mm diam.; margin: smooth but often sorediate or lobulate; disc: concolorous with or darker yellow than thallus; epithecium: c. 5-10 µm thick; hymenium: c. 45-85 µm tall; paraphyses: simple, cylindrical or with somewhat swollen, up to 3 µm wide tips; hypothecium 50-70 µm thick; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: oblongnarrowly ellipsoid, often somewhat curved, with numerous oil-droplets, colorless, 11-16 x 4-6 µm; Pycnidia: common, appear as raised orange warts on the surface; conidia: ellipsoid, 2.5-3.5 x 1.5 µm; Spot tests: upper surface K- (or + deeper yellow-reddish), C-, KC-, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolites: not investigated but probably similar to the other Candelaria species (i.e. containing calycin and pulvinic dilactone).; Habitat and ecology: on bark or wood, rarely on rocks; World distribution: known from westernmost North America up to Washington and Idaho; Sonoran distribution: mainly on twigs of exposed trees and shrubs at low elevations in the desert up to at least 1500 m in open woodlands in southern California and Baja California.; Notes: Candelaria “pacifica” is apparently an undescribed species, that differs from C. concolor in spore number and in the production of soredia from the lower side, which mostly lacks a cortex. Its erect habit with convex and often twisted lobes, together with the contrasting greenish color of the soredia produced from the lower side, gives this undescribed species a rather characteristic appearance. The lobe morphology is, however, rather variable and the thalli may sometimes form isidiate-sorediate crusts in a similar way to C. concolor. Candelaria “pacifica” is used as an interim name here because material from Europe has also proved to be similar. Thus, the synonyms of C. concolor need further investigation before the nomenclatural status of this taxon can be resolved (Westberg, in prep.)  less ↑

 Thallus: verrucose-subareolate; surface: gray, without isidia; cortex: 11-24 µm thick, hyaline; without crystals in cortex nor medulla, uniform, without strands of hyphae penetrating into the medulla, borderline of medulla even, parallel with surface; fertile verrucae: 1.2-1.8 mm in diam., with uneven surface; Apothecia: single in the fertile verrucae or rarely 2-3; mazaedium: 0.7-1 mm in diam., sometimes with a greenish-yellow pruina; exciple: 0.23-0.33 mm high, blackish brown; hymenium: 55-80 µm tall; asci: cylindrical, 8-spored, with uniseriate spores; ascospores: 1-septate, constricted at septum, 22-28 x 12-13 µm; surface: smooth or minutely uneven in light microscope; Spot tests: thallus K-, C-, KC-, P-; medulla I-; Secondary metabolites: thallus having several chemotypes: epanorin and rhizocarpic acid, usnic acid alone, or none detected; yellowish pruina of mazaedium with tetronic acid derivatives.; Substrate and ecology: on wood, preferably fence posts, sea level to 600 m; World distribution: southern Alaska to California; Sonoran distribution: southern California and Baja California.; Notes: Contrary to Herre (1910), the thallus of Thelomma occidentale is best described as effuse, without marginal lobation. The exciple is reduced to a dark cushion. As the spore mass pushes against the confining thallus, the adjacent tissue becomes slightly upturned, often creating a distinct white rim. The mazaedium often has a slightly greenish cast.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, forming small cushions up to 9 mm wide or extensive colonies, adnate to loosely adnate, lobate; hymenium: hyaline below, 50-100 µm tall; paraphyses: simple to branched, cylindrical, septate, mostly with oil droplets in the uppermost cells; hypothecium: hyaline to pale brown, 25-55 µm thick; asci: clavate, 8-spored; ascospores: ellipsoid, polarilocular, hyaline, 11-20 x 5-9 µm; septum: 2.5-9 µm wide; Spot tests: upper surface K+ purple, C-, KC-, P-; World distribution: widely distributed mainly in boreal and temperate regions; Sonoran distribution: rare in southern California and Baja California.; Notes: Compared to other small sorediate species in the genus, Xanthomendoza fulva is generally darker orange pigmented. The thallus is smooth and somewhat shiny, and the lobes appear thin and delicate. Pycnidia, when present, are reddish pigmented and large compared to the lobe width, which make them very conspicuous. The thalli often coalesce into extensive colonies. Small thalli of X. oregana sometimes resemble X. fulva, but generally X. oregana is larger with longer and broader lobes, that are lighter orange pigmented, and the conidia vary in shape. See notes for X. 'galericulata' and X. fallax for comparisons with these taxa.; upper surface: light to dark orange, smooth and shiny; soredia: granular, blastidious, below lobe tips, in submarginal soralia; Pycnidia: rare to abundant, protruding, dark orange to red-orange; Secondary metabolites: parietin (major), fallacinal (major), emodin, teloschistin (major) and parietinic acid.  less ↑

 Thallus: foliose, forming small to medium-sized rosettes up to 3 cm wide or extensive colonies, loosely adnate, lobate; lobes: dorsiventral, flattened to convex, 0.3-0.9 mm wide; tips: rotund to pointed, 0.1-0.4 mm wide; upper surface: yellow to light orange, smooth to shiny, not sorediate; medulla: white, reticulate, with short hyphae; lower surface: white, smooth to somewhat wrinkled, with abundant long, white to yellow rhizines; Apothecia: common, laminal, stipitate, up to 3.5 mm in diam.; margin: smooth with more or less abundant cilia; disc: orange; epihymenium: brown, c. 10 µm thick; hymenium: hyaline below, 70-90 µm tall;paraphyses: simple or branched, cylindrical, septate; asci: clavate, 8-spored; hypothecium: hyaline to pale brown, 25-75 µm thick; ascospores: ellipsoid, polarilocular, hyaline, 14-20 x 6-10 µm; septum: 4-10 µm wide; Pycnidia: common, immersed to protruding, darker than upper surface; conidia: bacilliform, 3-4.2 x 1-1.5 µm; Spot tests: upper surface K+ purple, C-, KC-, P-; Secondary metabolites: parietin (major), fallacinal (major), emodin, teloschistin (major) and parietinic acid.; Habitat and ecology: on bark, occasionally on rock or detritus, in rather humid microclimates; World distribution: boreal and temperate regions of the Americas, and Asia(?); Sonoran distribution: coastal regions of southern California.; Notes: Xanthomendoza hasseana is similar to X. montana, but X. hasseana has slightly longer and narrower lobes that are usually lighter orange pigmented, smaller and more distinctly ellipsoid spores with a wider septum. In X. hasseana the rhizines as well as the cilia on the thalline margin of the apothecia are usually longer. The distribution areas of the two species seem not to overlap, because X. montana is only reported from higher elevations inland. Xanthoria polycarpa has more convex and narrow lobes and usually the apothecia cover a greater part of the thallus. Important characters are the conidia, which are ellipsoid and produced in rather inconspicuous pycnidia in Xanthoria polycarpa; whereas they are bacilliform and produced in more conspicuous pycnidia in X. hasseana.  less ↑

Xanthoria parietina is a foliose, or leafy, lichen. It has wide distribution, and many common names such as common orange lichen, yellow scale, maritime sunburst lichen and shore lichen. It can be found near the shore on rocks or walls (hence the epithet parietina meaning "on walls"), and also on inland rocks, walls, or tree bark. It was chosen as a model organism for genomic sequencing (planned in 2006) by the US Department of Energy Joint... less ↑

 Life habit: lichenized; Thallus: crustose, continuous or areolate, margin thinning at edge, without elongated lobes; prothallus: absent; surface: yellowish orange, pruinose, sorediate; soredia: fine, in delimited, laminal, irregular or round soralia; cortex: cellular, 20-35 µm thick, granules absent; medulla without granules; Apothecia: adnate, 0.4-0.8 mm in diam., lecanorine; disc: dark reddish orange, flat, epruinose; margin: persistent, flush; thalline margin absent; proper margin visible, concolorous with disc; parathecium: consisting of radiating hyphae, exciple below hypothecium irregular hyphae; epihymenium: golden, K+ red; hymenium: hyaline, 60-70(-85) µm tall; tip cells not swollen, with some branching; subhymenium hyaline; asci: cylindrical, 8-spored; ascospores: hyaline, 2 locules, ellipsoid, 11-15.5 x 5.5-7(-8.5) µm, isthmus (1.5-)3-4(-5.5) µm, spore end wall thin; Pycnidia: present, mostly immersed, ostiole orange; Spot tests: thallus K+ red, C+ red; Secondary metabolites: unidentified anthraquinones.; Substrate and ecology: on wood or bark; World distribution: western North America; Sonoran distribution: southern California, Arizona, Baja California Sur, western Chihuahua, Sonora and northern Sinaloa.; Notes: Caloplaca persimilis has a tan to greenish orange areolate thallus that originates under the surface of the substrate, the soredia are tan-orange, and the apothecia are brownish-orange and lack a thalline margin. The soredia are in mounds and similar in color to the thallus. Caloplaca microphyllina has a dark orange subsquamulose thallus and red-orange apothecia.  less ↑